It’s been nearly 25 years since Bring It On was released, but I still have basically the entire movie memorized. To me, Gabrielle Union will always be Isis, the leader of the Compton Clovers, and her most recent red carpet look has me ready for a rewatch. (Rewatch number, say, two million.)
For the premiere of her movie Riff Raff at the Toronto International Film Festival, Union and her hairstylist Larry Sims opted for a high, cheerleader-style ponytail with her lipstick-print Prada dress. Her hair was pulled tightly back from her forehead and gathered into a ponytail right at the crown of her head, with a portion of her hair wrapped around the base to disguise any hair bands or pins. The lengths were styled straight and brushed behind her back, hitting about mid-shoulder with perky, flipped-out ends. This is how you take the ponytail from the gym to the red carpet.
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The actor went for a light, minimal glam with subtly flushed cheeks and taupe eye shadow brushed across her lids, plus a neutral manicure on medium-length, almond-shaped nails.
There’s a reason the ponytail shows up on the red carpet so often: as Union proves, it’s super versatile and can truly do it all. Her high pony is the ideal balance of glamorous, flirty, and sporty; she could easily switch to her green Clovers uniform and it would look perfect with that outfit too. Ponytails can be ultra-long and luxurious, like the waist-length pony Jennifer Lopez wore to a premiere; braided, like Chlöe Bailey’s; sci-fi inspired, like Florence Pugh’s Dune premiere pony; or made primarily of shiny tinsel, like Union’s cousin Saweetie’s. In January, Union celebrated her husband Dwyane Wade’s birthday in Miami in a red-hot minidress with a high, curly ponytail that really brought the party.
